10 Underrated Magic Items In Baldur’s Gate 3 You Should Be Using

Summary Baldur's Gate 3 has many magic items to use, but a lot of very good ones fly under the radar.

This may be because they have niche use-cases, or are only helpful with specific character builds.

Items like the Whispering Promise and the Bow of Awareness provide very beneficial effects despite not being of high rarity.

Baldur's Gate 3 offers a cornucopia of magical artifacts, and it is easy to underestimate some items while grappling with the RPG’s complex system. Based largely on Dungeons & Dragons 5e, tabletop veterans will likely grasp its nuances rather quickly, but Larian Studios' opus can be a lot to absorb for the uninitiated. By demystifying its core mechanics, however, adventurers may find that trinkets once overlooked can unlock new possibilities.

Amid this dearth of underrated items are artifacts that range in application. Some are so good they should be taken on every playthrough, while more niche loot provides options and leeway for overcoming a variety of Baldur’s Gate 3’s challenges. With every success and failure hinging on a roll of the die, adventurers may think twice about writing items off after realizing how much such treasures can improve their chances.

Related "An Iconic, Engaging Mess Of Brilliant Ideas": Baldur's Gate 3 Review Baldur's Gate 3 is imposing in stature and its best moments are truly memorable, but some early issues with scale suggest an uneven experience.

10 The Whispering Promise & Hellrider’s Pride

The Whispering Promise ring and Hellrider’s Pride gauntlets confer powerful buffs on anyone healed by the character wearing them, with the ring providing bless to improve attack rolls and saving throws, and the gauntlets providing blade ward to cut incoming physical damage in half. These effects can be triggered by any form of healing, and although they last for two rounds, they can be reapplied easily through additional healing.

While either buff can be granted through spells, it is far better to apply them using these items. This is because bless normally competes with other concentration spells to maintain and blade ward only affects the caster. When applied through the ring and gauntlets, however, these effects hit all allies in range and do not require concentration. Together, they greatly bolster a party’s survivability throughout the entire campaign.

The buffs provided by The Whispering Promise and Hellrider’s Pride trigger off of self-healing items like the Ring of Regeneration and the Helm of Balduran, providing even greater synergies for these best-in-slot items.

9 Gloves Of The Growling Underdog

The Gloves of the Growling Underdog provide a bonus to strength saving throws, but it is the advantage on melee attack rolls that makes these gloves shine. Assuming the character wearing them is surrounded by more than one enemy, the gloves improve their chances of landing a melee attack. Since enemies in Baldur’s Gate 3 like to swarm, the condition is relatively easy to meet in most fights.

Within the DnD vernacular, advantage means a character gets to roll two dice instead of the usual one, and the highest score is weighed to determine their success. While this does not guarantee a character will succeed, it still effectively doubles their chances. Although there are many ways to gain advantage in Baldur’s Gate 3, these gloves are among the easiest to do so with relative consistency.

8 Unseen Menace

The Unseen Menace’s increased critical hit chance ensures it is more likely to pack a devastating punch with relative frequency. However, what makes the weapon shine is its invisibility status, which it loses for only two rounds in the event it misses its mark. The pike’s invisibility affords it a nearly indefinite advantage on attack rolls, resulting in a weapon that will hit – and hit hard – often.

After acquiring the Unseen Menace, its tooltip may be nebulous to some, but it is easier to appreciate after understanding how invisibility works in the Dungeons & Dragons 5e ruleset. For context, invisible characters gain advantage on their attack rolls but lose it along with invisibility after rolling for an attack. In a sense, this means the weapon’s persistent invisibility is better because it gets to keep it even after the attack.

7 Bow Of Awareness

The Bow of Awareness grants a bonus to initiative when equipped, and the effect persists even if it is not in active use. Since everyone can equip the bow regardless of proficiency, anyone can benefit from this bonus, even if they have no intention of using it as a weapon. Initiative is generally improved by having high dexterity, but items like this allow adventurers to build around that restriction.

Keep in mind that, unlike the real-time with pause titles that came earlier in the franchise, Baldur's Gate 3 is a turn-based game. At the beginning of every fight, initiative is weighed for all characters to determine who gets to go first. Like a game of tic-tac-toe, going early is a massive leg-up, and one way to manipulate the turn order is by having a high initiative.

6 Mask Of The Shapeshifter

Exclusive to the digital deluxe edition of the game, the Mask of the Shapeshifter allows the wearer to alter their appearance to any playable race or gender at will, akin to the spell disguise self. However, while the spell is restricted to only classes that have access to it, the mask can be used by anyone. Even better, the illusion persists even when the mask is removed.

This Divinity: Original Sin 2 easter egg opens up a myriad of possibilities for adventurers who like to think outside the box. To name a few, most races will respond more favorably to one of their own, many are quick to accommodate Drow, and some NPCs respond better to one gender over the other. Ultimately, the mask’s flexibility allows characters with low charisma to more easily navigate tricky dialogue.

Although the Mask of the Shapeshifter’s magic is classified as an illusion, it counts as shapeshifting. In addition to allowing characters to benefit from racial bonuses found on gear, the mask also triggers the benefits of items like the Shapeshifter’s Boon Ring for a massive 1d4 bonus to all ability checks.

5 Gloves Of The Automaton

The Gloves of the Automaton boast resistance to lightning damage and strength saving throws, but more importantly, they allow the wearer to cast Circuitry Interface for a whopping 10 rounds of advantage on weapon attack rolls that can't be dispelled. While the effect must be toggled, it does not require concentration and can be cast once per short rest, which easily makes it useful for most of the game’s major battles.

Combat in Baldur’s Gate 3 rarely exceeds 10 rounds, and this includes nearly all the game’s larger battles on the hardest difficulty. Because Circuitry Interface is cast as a bonus action, it guarantees advantage on both melee and ranged attacks throughout an entire fight. Put another way: doubling the odds of connecting cannot be overvalued, since missing is almost as bad as skipping a character’s turn entirely.

4 Phalar Aluve

Found after navigating to the Underdark, Phalar Aluve is a magical sword with two abilities that allow it to buff nearby allies or debuff nearby enemies. While it is tempting to replace the sword with a weapon dealing higher damage not long after acquiring it, it is important to remember that it need not be held by a character that intends to attack with it. Even characters predominantly using spells or ranged weapons can support the party with its Melody.

Related How To Get Phalar Aluve Longsword In Baldur’s Gate 3 Baldur's Gate 3's Phalar Aluve can be found in the Underdark. However, players must use skill checks to free the singing sword from its resting place.

Phalar Aluve’s Sing ability is a bless-like buff that stacks with bless in case parties need more cushioning to survive, but the sword’s Shriek ability is what makes it so devastating to enemies. Tacking on 1d4 thunder damage to any successful attack might not seem like much at first blush, but it quickly adds up when considering most classes can attack multiple times per turn by mid-Act 1.

3 Snowburst Ring

The Snowburst Ring is easily overlooked since it requires a specific playstyle to take full advantage of. When the ring-wearer casts a spell that deals cold damage, they will produce an ice surface at the feet of any enemies who were struck. Although the ring’s application is admittedly niche, it provides a powerful feature for casters who commonly use this damage type.

There are many types of difficult terrain in Baldur’s Gate 3, and ice surfaces are uniquely insidious. While they do not cause damage, characters forced to walk on them must succeed a saving throw or fall prone for the turn – robbing them of any unused actions and imposing disadvantage when defending against any melee attacks. The ice surface can trivialize many difficult fights, and it is easy to apply thanks to the Snowburst Ring.

2 Necklace Of Elemental Augmentation

The Necklace of Elemental Augmentation is a powerful artifact that allows its wearer to add their spellcasting modifier to their damage roll, but because the item only applies to cantrips dealing elemental damage, adventurers might be inclined to give it a hard pass. This is understandable to some degree, since many casters depend on higher-level spells to do much of the heavy lifting in combat.

However, it is important to remember that cantrips are a free resource. By improving the damage they can inflict, mages can save their precious spell slots for harder fights and more nuanced applications. To drill this point home, it is not uncommon for a single elemental cantrip to hit for 50 to 100 damage provided the mage is built properly, and items like the Necklace of Elemental Augmentation are what make that possible.

1 Steelwatcher Helmet

By the time adventurers are positioned to even acquire the Steelwatcher Helmet, it can be difficult to slot it in favor of the bounty of items available in Act 3. However, a closer look reveals this unsung artifact provides powerful effects. In addition to bestowing advantage on constitution saving throws, the helmet’s Artificial Sight feature grants immunity to blindness while conferring Darkvision, allowing the wearer to see clearly in darkness.

Advantage on constitution saving throws is fantastic because it protects casters from losing concentration, but the protection from blindness is also amazing. The condition effectively shuts down most characters, and it can only be cured with Remedial Potions, Restoration, or heal. Lastly, Darkvision improves hit chance for those who do not have it as a racial feature, and there are plenty of enemies in Baldur's Gate 3's final act who love casting Darkness.